1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a print system, a printer, a print method, and a print data generation system and in particular to a print system, a printer, a print method, and a print data generation system for making it possible to monitor the processing state of a print job.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, a print system for printing via a network, such as a LAN (local area network), has become pervasive as the network technology has moved forward. In such a print system, print data generated in a host computer is transmitted via a network to a printer for carrying out a print job. Since any desired printer connected to the network can be used in the network print system, the host computer issuing a print job and the printer receiving the print job instruction may be away from each other depending on printer selection. If the host computer and the printer are away from each other, the user cannot visually check the progress state of a print job easily, namely, the ease of use is poor.
Then, for example, as described in JP-A-8-272557; JP-A-8-305520, etc., various systems for monitoring the processing state of a print job are proposed. For example, a printer is provided with a management table for managing print jobs, a program for detecting the job processing state, and the like, whereby the printer can be made to detect the processing state of a print job singly. Alternatively, a print server is provided on a network and all print jobs are transmitted through the print server to printers, whereby the print jobs on the network can also be managed in a unified way.
By the way, to make the printer itself monitor the processing state of a print job, computer resources of memory, a CPU (central processing unit), etc., are required as much as the installed print job management function, thus the printer configuration becomes complicated and costs are also increased. Once such an intelligent printer is placed on distribution, it is virtually difficult to change the print job management function, thus the intelligent printer lacks flexibility as a job management system.
On the other hand, to provide the print server on the network, the print jobs on the network can be managed in a unified way, but a storage unit for retaining all print jobs and the like become necessary. Thus, if the dedicated print server is provided, costs are increased. Since all print jobs are transmitted through the print server to printers to manage the print jobs in a centralized manner, network traffic increases drastically and there is a possibility that print efficiency may be degraded. That is, print data generated in a host computer is first transmitted to the print server, next transmitted to the printer specified from the print server. Therefore, the same data is distributed twice on the network and the communication traffic is doubled. If the communication capacity is improved in response to an increase in the traffic, costs furthermore grow; on the other hand, if the communication capacity is not improved, the processing speed of the whole system lowers. Further, since the print server manages the print jobs in a unified way, if some fault occurs in the print server, the network print system cannot be operated; the system including the print server also lacks fault tolerance.